Discovering the Waterfront Walking Tour

Discovering the Waterfront Walking Tour
Discovering the Waterfront (1996; revised 2005) is a self-guided tour sponsored by Heritage
Barrie to highlight the heritage of the City of Barrie. This tour follows Lakeshore Drive between Memorial Square and the Southshore Community Centre. Other tours available include Downtown East,
Downtown West, Grand Homes, Allandale, Rodney and Blake Streets, and H-Block & Court House Hill.
Copies can be obtained from Barrie City Hall, PO Box 400, Barrie, ON, L4M 4T5, Barrie Public Library,
and can be downloaded from Tourism Barrie’s website at www.tourismbarrie.com. Information and photographs on any of the buildings and sites featured in this tour or on other aspects of Barrie’s architectural heritage are welcomed.
Discovering the Waterfront was researched, written, and produced for Heritage Barrie by Su
Murdoch Historical Consulting in Barrie. Graphic design, modern photography and electronic composition by Kurt Harding Schick.
What is Heritage Barrie?
Heritage Barrie was established in 1977 by a City of Barrie bylaw under Section 28 of the Ontario Heritage Act. Its role is to advise and assist Council in all matters relating to heritage conservation.
Members are volunteers appointed by Council, plus a Council representative and a liaison from the
Planning Services Department. Funds for Heritage Barrie are provided annually as part of the city operating budget.
What is a Heritage Designation?
Heritage designation is an important aspect of the mandate of Heritage Barrie. Part IV of the
Ontario Heritage Act allows municipal councils to pass bylaws to protect properties that have architectural and/or historical significance to the community. The designation bylaw does not prevent alteration
nor does it require the owner to restore the building. Its purpose is to ensure that any proposed changes
to the designated features are in keeping with, or are sympathetic to, the reasons for designation. For
further information and the list of properties designated or on the Cultural Heritage Resources Inventory,
contact Heritage Barrie, c/o Planning and Development, Barrie City Hall, PO Box 400, Barrie, ON, L4M
4T5.
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Photograph Credits
Cover
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Kurt Harding Schick (KHS)
Extract of 1907 Insurance Plan, modified 2005
Nine Mile Portage plaque, KHS
Detail 1833 Hawkins’ survey, Crown Lands Department
Barrie waterfront, Sowman Collection
Grand Stand ticket, Carley-Tyrer family
Gazebo at Heritage Park, KHS
Delaney Boat Lines, George Craig
Spirit Catcher, KHS
Wilkinson flour mill, Barrie the Picturesque, 1897
Barrie waterworks, Barrie the Picturesque, 1897
Simcoe Steam Brewery, Simcoe County Archives (SCA)
Ice harvesting , SCA
Barrie Tannery, Sowman Collection
Aerial view of Barrie Marina, KHS
Prince of Wales School, Val Brucker
Flagstaffs, KHS
Barrie Carriage Company, SCA
Rotary Fountain, Doris Cowper
CNR locomotive, KHS
J.C. Morrison plaque, KHS
Steamer Islay, SCA
Railroad YMCA, Lowe Family
Allandale railway station, Su Murdoch
Time capsule, KHS
GTR roundhouse, SCA
Master Mechanic’s building, SCA
Aerial view of Southshore Community Centre, KHS
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Discovering the Waterfront Walking Tour
The tour follows Lakeshore Drive between Memorial Square and
the Southshore Community Centre
Memorial Square (at Owen and
Dunlop Street East) was the terminus of a nine-mile portage between
Kempenfelt Bay and the eastern
branch of the Nottawasaga River
(Willow Creek). Aboriginals, fur
traders, explorers, and settlers used
the portage until the 1830s to reach
Georgian Bay and the Upper Great
Lakes.
In October 1793, Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe named
Kempenfelt Bay in recognition of his
father’s “friend and favourite,” Admiral Richard Kempenfelt, and Lake
Simcoe in honour of his father,
Captain John Simcoe of the Royal
Navy.
Barrie was first surveyed in 1833 by
William Hawkins. At that time, the
natural shoreline followed the route
of present day Simcoe Street
(Marks Street) between Bayfield
and Owen. The south side of
Dunlop Street, east from Owen,
was the shoreline. John
McCausland lived in a shanty near
the water. There he laboured at constructing a perpetual motion machine, much to the annoyance of his
neighbour, Francis Hewson.
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David and Mary Edgar were the second settlers to arrive in Barrie (after Alexander Walker in 1825). The
couple occupied one of two government warehouses built at the terminus of the portage.
The Ontario, Simcoe & Huron Union Railroad Company line reached Allandale in 1853. After a decade
of dispute, its successor, the Northern Railway, extended the tracks around the bay to the portage terminus. The Company sank the burned hull of their steamer, Beaver, and other debris as landfill along the
shoreline. When the railway station was erected at the terminus in 1865, the site became known as Station Gore. The station was demolished in 1963.
In 1884, a federal post office and customs building was built on the Dunlop Street frontage of Station
Gore. The Town of Barrie and Townships of Innisfil and Vespra erected the war memorial west of the
post office in 1922. The entire site was known as Post Office Square until 1957 when it was renamed
Fred Grant Square. This was in honour of Barrie-born journalist and local historian, Fred Grant. The post
office building was demolished in 1958.In 1993, Fred Grant Square was renamed Memorial Square and
the short section of roadway from Dunlop to Simcoe was named Fred Grant Street.
In 1867, John Carley
opened a boatworks
east of Mulcaster
Street, below Dunlop
(present day Bayview
Park). His second location was on the west
side of Mulcaster. Carley had a large verandah on the waterside of
his boathouse. As much
as $350 was paid to
rent “Carley’s Grand
Stand” for viewing regattas and races on the
bay.
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West of the Square and
bounded by Fred Grant, Simcoe, Bayfield, and Dunlop was
land set aside in 1836 to generate income for the Church of
England. On the site was a row
of buildings that faced the water
but were severed from it in
1865 by the railway tracks. The
buildings were destroyed by fire
in 1871. The replacement buildings turned their backs to the
waterfront and were rebuilt facing Dunlop Street. The former
glebe block became a parking
lot.
In the 1980s, the shoreline between Mulcaster and Bayfield
was filled to create Heritage
Park with its popular bubble
fountain, waterway, gazebo,
and gardens.
A government dock at Bayfield Street has existed throughout most of Barrie’s history. In 1939, Delaney
Boat Lines opened just west of the dock and, in 1950, began manufacturing its line of Del Craft motorboats. Delaney also had a car wash, and was near Myers’ boat repair shop. These businesses, with
Carley Boatworks, had to close in the 1970s when land was expropriated to widen Lakeshore Drive.
In 1943, The Lions Club and the Navy League of Canada, Barrie branch, established the Kempenfelt
Sea Cadets (Royal Canadian Sea Cadets) for teenaged boys. The Navy League Cadet Corps Chambly
was founded for younger boys, aged 10 to 12. Girls were admitted after 1975. In 1984, a boathouse was
built on the former Delaney property. The cadets learn boat handling, navigation, swimming, and water
safety.
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The bird-like sculpture near
the Navy League boathouse
is called Spirit Catcher. Artist
Ron Baird was commissioned to create a large
scale piece for Expo ’86 in
Vancouver, B.C. On June
13, 1987, the Peacock Foundation of Barrie had Spirit
Catcher installed in memory
of Helen McCrae Peacock.
The sculpture symbolizes
West Coast aboriginal culture. A “spiritual antenna,” it
catches spirituality and imagery as a form of communication.
On the west side of Maple
Avenue just below Dunlop
West stood a large flour mill.
Wealthy lumberman Allan
Gunn erected the first mill on
the site in 1867. Mills were
expensive to build and, unfortunately for Gunn, the
lumber market went into an
economic depression. He
went bankrupt. James Wilkinson acquired the property and later added woollen and knitting mills to the
flour operation. “On a Saturday it was not unusual a sight to see the street thronged with farmers and
their rigs from early morning until late in the day awaiting their turn to unload.” By 1900, the business
was shipping coal, wood, and flour by boxcar using the railway siding that ran into its yard. In March
1952, “stark, crumbling walls around still smouldering wheat” were all that remained of Barrie Mills. Fire
destroyed it in an hour. It is the present day site of the bus terminal designed as a replica of the railway
station at the (Memorial) Square.
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West of the mill, at
the end of Mary
Street, is Barrie’s
first waterworks.
Built in 1891 on the
franchise plan,
Messrs. Hinds and
Bond of Watertown, New York,
owned the works
while the Town
paid an annual hydrant rental fee.
Beside the pumphouse was a 158foot water tower.
The tower is gone
and a new building
has replaced the
original, but water
is still pumped from
the artesian well.
The large Georgian style house facing the waterworks (16-18 Mary Street) is the former residence of
builder John Pearson. Constructed about 1845, it is protected under the Ontario Heritage Act as a significant heritage property.
On the south side of the Pearson house, below Simcoe Street, is the former site of Robert Simpson’s
Simcoe Steam Brewery. Simpson started brewing about 1836 in the village of Kempenfeldt, east of Barrie. After his brewery burned, he built across the bay at Tollendal. Once again the “dread destroyer”
struck and he
moved to the Mary
Street location in
1849. When Barrie
became a Town in
1871, Simpson was
the first mayor.
About 1900, the
brewery was bought
by Messrs. Anderton
and Company and
soon boasted the
“best known in Canada” champagne ale
and celebrated XXX
porter. The brewery
and Simpsons’s
house nearby are
demolished.
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Ice harvesting
began as a seasonal industry
on Lake Simcoe
in the 1870s.
The spring fed
water and cold
winters combined to produce
an excellent
quality product.
Once the ice
reached up to 20
inches thick,
companies such as the Lake Simcoe Ice and Fuel Company set up saws and conveyors on the lake.
The quantity of ice removed some winters was so great that the railways were unable to ship the supply
in the winter season. Temporary icehouses covering several acres were built near the end of Mary
Street and into Allandale to store blocks of ice packed in sawdust, ready for shipping to cities across
North America. Although artificial ice was introduced in 1922, ice harvesting continued on Lake Simcoe
until the 1950s.
After buying the Graham tannery on Dunlop East, in 1900 John and Alex Sinclair built a 5-storey main
building and several outbuildings stretching from the south end of High Street, west to Bradford Street.
Tan bark at their Barrie Tanning Company was piled an average of 13 feet high ready for the production
of coloured leathers for suitcases, purses, shoe uppers, harnesses, and bookbinding materials. The tannery closed in 1979
and the buildings
were demolished.
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The Barrie marina, between the Navy League
boathouse and Bunker’s
Creek, was established
in the 1960s as part of
the lakeshore development project.
On Bradford Street facing the tannery site and
visible from the marina is
Prince of Wales Public
School. Built in 18761877 as West Ward
School, it may be the
longest operating school
in the region.
South from the tannery
to Vespra Street, between Bradford Street and the former railway
right-of-way, was Barrie Lumber
Company, In 1888, the Mickle &
Dyment Lumber Company bought
this former Durham mill property
to construct a lumber, lath, and
shingle mill. They portaged logs
from the Black River to Lake
Couchiching at Longford, then
towed them in larger booms
across Lake Simcoe to the mill. It closed in 1934.
In the 1950s, The Barrie Harbour Committee made plans to construct a
road along the lakeshore between Tiffin Street and Bayfield, and open a
waterfront park. The railway tracks severed access to the water and
there was no road or right-of way along the lakeshore. Swimmers had
to cross the tracks and walk about 30 feet to reach the change houses
and warm water beaches created by three large sand bars. This was no
easy task in the summer when as many as 14 trains passed through
Barrie each day.
Beginning about 1961, the shallow water was filled to create Lakeshore
Drive from Bayfield to Tiffin, and Centennial Park from just north of Victoria Street to John Street. Mayor Leslie E. Cook officially opened Centennial Park in July 1967. Three flag -staffs at Victoria Street mark the
focal point of the park. The area contains several memorial plaques.
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South of Victoria, east
of Ellen, was Fair View
Brewery. Likely
opened in the 1850s
by the Andertons, the
family history offers
stories of absconding
and mysterious
deaths. In 1916, fire
destroyed the business. Their residence
on Victoria was demolished in 1986 for a
retail development. A
plaque to the brewery
and the Andertons is
on the east face of a
brick wall in the east
parking lot of the
plaza.
South of the Anderton brewery site was the
Barrie Carriage Company. Opened in 1904,
it manufactured buggies, carriages, and
cutters that were shipped throughout Canada. About 1915, vice-president Simon Dyment negotiated with the Bell Motor Car
Company of York, Pennsylvania, to assemble the Bell Automobile in Barrie. Less than
40 automobiles were produced before 1926,
when the Town had to take possession in
default of loan payments. The site was sold
to Clarke & Clarke Leathers of Toronto,
which sold to Robson-Lang Leathers Ltd.
In1946. This landmark was demolished
about 1986.
The Rotary Club of Barrie presented the
fountain at Centennial Park on July 1, 1967.
It was designed to appear to be floating as
an offshore island. Servicing the mechanics
from underwater proved difficult, so it was
linked to the mainland by a spit.
Near the fountain is Hotchkiss Creek, which
encircles the Water Pollution Control Centre. The plant opened about 1940 in response to increasing pollution in the bay.
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Beside Lakeshore Drive are two artifacts of railway history: Canadian
National Railway Steam Locomotive
1531 (in service from 1910 to 1959),
and a caboose. The locomotive is
displayed “In memory of William
Huckett No. 1 Engineer, John Harvie
No. 1 Conductor, and all railwaymen
who served the OS & LHRR and its
successors, 1853-1967.” [Ontario
Simcoe & Lake Huron Rail Road]
The section of park from John to Tiffin streets represents another phase
of waterfront development. It also
contains commemorative plaques.
For over a century, Barrie relied on
the passenger and freight service of steamboats.
Moonlight excursions or island picnics were offered by
dozens of palatial steamers on the bay until the 1920s.
At the bottom of Kempenfelt Bay, about 30 feet down,
is the wreck of the J.C. Morrison. Built for $60,000, the
Morrison was a side-wheel steamer launched in 1854
by the railway company. It was ornately finished with
velvet plush coverings and carved wood detailing
crafted by the New Lowell branch of the famous
Jacques and Hay Furniture Company of Toronto. Its
purpose was to meet the train and carry passengers,
cargo, and mail around the lake. Three years later, the
Morrison caught fire at the Barrie wharf and was cast
adrift.
After an
apprehensive
moment
when it
drifted
back to
shore,
the fire
brigade
again
sent the
blazing
ship out into the water. It sank in the middle of the bay.
Also below the surface of the bay may be Barrie’s sea
serpent, known affectionately as Kempenfelt Kelly. “There
are those who profess to disbelieve in all such things as
sea serpents.” With a “fish-shaped tail,” “fan-like claws,”
the “head of a horse,” but “eyes like a cow,” and leaving
wide trails in the sand as it returns to the deep, the existence of the serpent is hard to deny.
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Tiffin Street is the
boundary between
the former village of
Allandale and Barrie. For more than a
century, Allandale
was the hub of central Ontario’s rail
transportation as the
divisional headquarters and connecting
link for five branch
lines. The village
was annexed into
Barrie in 1897.
The intersection of
Tiffin, Essa, and
Bradford was Allandale’s downtown.
The 3-storey brick building near the intersection was built in 1907 as the Railroad YMCA (Young Men’s
Christian Association). It offered over-night accommodation for railway men who were “deadheaded” in
Allandale awaiting their next run. Part of the building housed a branch of the Bank of Toronto. To the
rear was a 50- foot water tank where children, trying to catch stray racing pigeons, often got wet in the
attempt.
The adjacent Allandale station was designed in 1905 by the Grand Trunk Railway (Canadian National
Railways after 1918) to offer patrons modern day comforts. The architectural firm of Spier and Rohns
integrated a new passenger depot and elegant restaurant, with an existing brick office building. Each
was linked by an open breezeway. The station featured a tower and a waiting room with a commanding
view of approaching trains. The
tracks followed the
curve of the shoreline. Although
closed by the mid1980s, this
“flagship” station is
considered unique
in Canada for its
style and quality.
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At the waterfront across from the station is Allandale Station Park. The area is the former site of the railway crane shed and coal chutes (at Holgate Creek). It features a large sundial, below which is a time
capsule vault containing memorabilia of Barrie citizens. It was assembled by the Barrie Historical Association to commemorate the New Millennium in 2000, and will be opened in 2053.
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Southshore Community Centre opened in 1993, and incorporates the 1903 Grand Trunk Railway Master
Mechanic’s Office and Stores building. To the east are the ruins of the massive roundhouse and machine shop where steam locomotives were repaired. The Offices and Stores building is protected by the
Ontario Heritage Act.
Swimming, boating, fishing, windsurfing, even winter horseracing held on a one-mile track cleared 60
feet wide, have been enjoyed on the bay. Skaters with umbrellas have glided across the “sheet of glass”
as far as Hawkestone. Waterfront band concerts and dances held in decorated pavilions have delighted
generations of Barrie residents. These pastimes as well as winter carnivals, cross-country skiing, cycling, walking, and annual festivals are a few of the pleasures to be discovered along Barrie’s waterfront.
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